Australian Immigration Daily News

Purpose 

The instrument operates to specify arrangements for making a Working Holiday (Subclass 417) visa (subclass 417 visa) application.

Item 1225 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations prescribes the requirements that an applicant for a subclass 417 visa must meet to make a valid visa application. Subitems 1225(1) and (3) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations require that the application for a subclass 417 visa must be made using the approved form, at the place and in the manner, specified in relation to a class of persons that includes the applicant in a legislative instrument made under subregulation 2.07(5) of the Regulations. 

Division 417 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations prescribes the criteria to be considered for the grant of a subclass 417 visa once an application for that visa has been made. Subclause 417.211(2) of Schedule 2 to the Regulations provides that an applicant for a subclass 417 visa must hold a working holiday eligible passport of the kind or of one of the kinds, specified in a legislative instrument made for that subclause.

Overview of the Disallowable Legislative Instrument

The purpose of the Migration Amendment (Visa Application Charges) Regulations 2022 (the Regulations) is to amend the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) to make changes to VACs for certain visas to implement the Government’s policy of indexing VACs.

The Regulations amend the Migration Regulations to increase VACs for a number of visas by the forecast consumer price index (CPI). From 2017-18, annual indexation of the VACs has been in accordance with the forecast CPI published annually in the Budget papers.

In effect, this means that the affected VACs are increased from their 2021-22 baseline amounts by the 2022-23 forecast CPI of 3.00 per cent, which is published in the 2022-23 Budget Paper No.1. The indexed amount of VAC is also rounded to the nearest $5. It is intended that these indexation amendments will continue to be made on an annual basis.

Source: Migration-Amendment-Visa-Application-Charges-Regulations-2022.pdf and

Migration-Amendment-Visa-Application-Charges-Regulations-2022-EXPLANATORY-STATEMENT.pdf

Overview

The Legislative Instrument removes redundant provisions from the Australian Citizenship Regulation 2016 (the Regulation) for the payment of citizenship application fees in foreign countries and in foreign currencies.

This aligns the Regulation with the current practice, which is that applications for citizenship are made online or by post and paid for in Australian dollars (AUD) using credit cards or other electronic payment systems. The amendment also removes the need to update the Regulation every six months to reflect foreign currency fluctuations and acceptable foreign currencies.

Source: Home-Affairs-Legislation-Amendment--2022-measures-No-1-Regulations-2022.pdf

The Amendment Regulations amend the Migration Regulations to help fill critical labour and skills gaps by temporarily removing certain requirements for applicants for the Subclass 485 visa in the Graduate Work stream.

Presently, applicants for the Graduate Work stream need to:

- nominate an occupation on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List;

- have a degree, diploma or trade qualification closely related to that occupation; and

- be assessed by a relevant assessing authority as having skills suitable for that occupation.

Removing these requirements will encourage more international vocational education and training (VET) graduates to stay and work in Australia for a longer period. It will also open up the visa stream to a broader range of graduates with diploma and trade qualifications that are not closely related to occupations on the skilled occupation list.

These requirements will be removed for all applications lodged during the 2022-23 financial year. The duration of the concession may however be extended, by legislative instrument, should current labour shortages not be ameliorated after this period.

Source: Migration-Amendment-Occupation-Nomination-and-Skills-Assessment-for-Sc-485-visas-Regs-2022.pdf

and 

The Australian Border Force (ABF) confirms a male detainee has passed away at Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, Western Australia. We express our condolences to the man's family and friends.

The ABF's priority is the health and safety of all detainees and staff. The matter has been referred for investigation to the appropriate agencies. As this matter will be subject to ongoing investigation, it would not be appropriate to comment further.

Source: Death-of-detainee-at-Yongah-Hill-Immigration-Detention-Centre.pdf